Grant's Curse
by snarkysweetness
Summary: Skye gives Grant an adorable birthday present a.k.a. have some dumb domestic!Skyeward fic.


**Title: **Grant's Curse  
**Author:** snarkysweetness  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Pairing:** Skye/Grant  
**Summary:** Skye gives Grant an adorable birthday present a.k.a. have some dumb domestic!Skyeward fic.  
**Warnings:** None.  
**Disclaimer:** I own nothing.  
**Author's Notes: **I needed happy things with puppies to avenge Buddy. NO PUPPIES FOR YOU JOHN GARRETT! This can either be Grant was never Hydra AU or he redeems himself down the line, up to you. Use your imagination.

"Skye, what are you doing?" Grant asked as she stifled a giggle. Her hands covered his eyes as she hazardously led him down the stairs. He bumped his knee into the railing for the third time and nearly stumbled off the last step. Considering she was the next Romanoff, she was a horrible guide. "Skye," he whined in annoyance as he fumbled around. Did she have to be on his back for this?

"Shh, just trust me," she chuckled before pressing her lips to his cheek.

"I already know about the surprise party, you know Fitz can't keep a secret. So if you're leading me to some horrible party, you can stop, I'd rather arrive there in one piece."

"Oh, shut up and keep walking. This has nothing to do with your birthday party," she scolded. "And I'm going to kill Fitz," she muttered as an afterthought.

Grant sighed. He hated his birthday. It had never been a big deal growing up because his family hadn't cared enough to celebrate it and now it was just a reminder that he was getting older. But Skye _loved_ birthdays, wanting to make up for all of the ones she'd missed out on. And as much as he hated them he had trouble telling her 'no' so he went along with it. But he wasn't in the mood today, especially since on his last birthday her 'surprise' had been nearly burning the kitchen to their new house to the ground trying to bake a cake. He really didn't want to go back to living on the bus, he liked their small cabin in the middle of nowhere; it was familiar to him, a good place to live married life, to have children, and to have sex with his wife somewhere other than a cramped shared pod surrounded by their friends and her surrogate parents.

"Please tell me you didn't burn the kitchen down," he groaned. "We've been home for a total of three hours; I'm not ready to be cramped back in that bus." Plus, he needed his few days off. Fitz had finally gotten a damned monkey and…he growled, not wanting to think about that damn pest right now. It was his birthday; he wanted to be upstairs, naked, with Skye, not walking into whatever disaster this birthday would prove to be. "What are you up to?"

"Jesus Christ, Grant Douglas Ward, you are the most impatient man I've ever met. For once in your life can you just go with the flow?"

"Says the woman who never made it to our wedding!"

"Um, in my defense May, Nat, and I were being held captive, which, yunno, kind of puts a damper on things."

"Yeah, well, no one told you to have your bachelorette party be an espionage mission in Russia."

She scoffed. "Well, need I remind you that we did end up getting married anyway, and it was _you_ who cut our honeymoon short?"

"Because H.A.M.M.E.R. and HYDRA teamed up to attack the Academy. I couldn't just stay away, Skye."

"So, we're even then?"

Grant sighed in annoyance.

"Good because I'm sick of talking about it. Alright, you're going to step onto the porch," she warned, as if he couldn't tell from the cold Maine air hitting him in the face.

"All right, now what?"

"Stop being so surly," she warned before wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing his cheek again. "Okay, open your eyes," she commanded excitedly.

He did as he was told and- "Skye, what the hell is that?"

Skye jumped off his back eagerly before rushing to pick up the small bowed object. She squeezed it to her chest before holding it out happily. "It's a puppy!"

Oh, he could see that. "Skye, why do we have a puppy?"

She pouted and pulled it back to her chest, scratching it behind the ear. "Because…I know how much you miss Buddy and you love dogs and this little guy needed a good home. You should have seen him at the shelter, a matted mess and…" She stuck out her bottom lip. "He was unloved and unwanted and in need of a good home. He's kind of like we were except we can love him and give him a better life than we had."

Grant blinked down at her. How was he supposed to be mad at her for bringing home something they didn't have time to take care of when she was so adorable about it?

"Couldn't you have at least cleaned it up first?"

"I did, he looked worse at the pound. Fitz took him to be groomed. And you look handsome, don't you," she said in baby talk as she rubbed her nose against its wet one. The dog licked her face happily before Skye shoved it into Grant's arms.

He took it warily as it leaned up to lick his face. He scowled. This tiny…was it a Corgi? He narrowed his eyes. It was some sort of mix. He couldn't really tell to be honest. What the hell was it? Other than a mutt? Whatever it was, it was no Buddy. Buddy was a real dog. Strong, resourceful, this thing was tiny and would probably spend the day yipping at him and-he smiled as it got him on the mouth.

"You're not so bad," he muttered.

"That's what I thought, you like him."

Of course he liked him; she knew how much he loved dogs. If they weren't on missions all the time they'd have a cabin just for strays.

"One problem; what are we going to do with him when we're on the bus?"

Skye smiled and began untying the bow on its collar. "He's a tiny guy! If Fitz can have a monkey we can have a puppy. Dad will have to deal with it."

"You didn't bother to ask him, did you?"

"Nope."

Great, Coulson was going to yell at him for this. He never yelled at Skye. She was his baby but Grant would always be the one who'd 'defiled' her. Grant rolled his eyes at the memory. They all knew full well she had been defiled long before he'd come along.

"So…this is my surprise?" He asked warily, wanting to make sure this was it.

Skye leaned up on her tip-toes and pressed a kiss to his lips. "Happy birthday," she answered before taking the dog and setting it on the grass where it could run around.

"You didn't answer my question," Grant called weakly as she chased the dog. She simply glanced over with a smirk and he was suddenly very afraid of whatever she was keeping from him.

"I'm going to make sure the fire insurance is current," he muttered to himself before she yelled at him.

"We need to name him!"

He shrugged. "I don't know name him…'Pal' or 'Spot' or 'The Doctor', I don't know, you pick."

Skye cocked her head to the side and frowned. "Grant, please, take this seriously. He's our _baby_ now."

"I am," he lied. "But you pick, sweetheart. You know me, I'm a boring robot; I don't have the creativity for this kind of thing."

She smirked. "Well, lucky for you, I have a list." She pulled out a folded piece of paper from the pocket of her shirt and tossed a ball for the dog to fetch before dancing over and shoving Grant into a chair. She climbed into his lap and he wrapped his arm around her middle and rested his chin on her shoulder. Her excitement was infectious.

"All right, let's hear them."

"'Lighting the Pup of Thunder'?" Grant made a face and gave her an 'are you serious' look. She frowned. "So that's a 'no'? And I'll cross off 'Thor' as well."

Grant plucked the list out of her hand. "What are these names? 'Captain Barnes'? 'Iron Pup'? 'Pup the Patriot'? 'The Winter Pup'? 'Captain Pup'? 'Spot the Wonder Pup'? Skye, he's not a superhero. Did you come up with any real names?"

"'Roger' is on the list," she replied sheepishly.

"Would that be short of 'Captain Rogers'?"

She grinned. "Maybe?"

Grant rubbed between his eyes while resisted the urge to be annoyed. "Skye, we're not naming our dog after Steve Rogers."

"Well if it was up to you his name would be '_dog_'."

As if on cue their mangy mutt jumped into Skye's lap. She gave an infectious chuckle and hugged it to her chest. "What do you think, buddy? Are you a 'Captain Rogers'? Or a 'Steve'? Maybe even a 'Bucky' or 'Leo'."

Grant stared at the dog for a moment before picking it up and inspecting it.

"Um…Skye, sweetheart, I hate to break it to you but this dog isn't a 'Bucky', it's more a 'Natasha'."

"What?" Skye looked for a moment before muttering 'huh'. "Yunno, for a rocket scientist, Fitz isn't very smart. I gave him three simple jobs: pick up the puppy I adopted along with its paperwork, take it to the groomers, and not tell me it's a boy when it's a girl."

"You couldn't tell yourself?"

She shrugged. "I told you, she was a mess at the pound. I picked her out because she reminded me of you."

Grant rolled his eyes and she ignored him, scrunching her nose. "Well, none of these names will do, will they? No, no. How about 'Lola'? I like 'Lola'. 'Lola Fitzsimmons'!"

"No, it's too soon."

"It's been five years; I think he's over it."

Grant frowned. "I don't think he'll ever be over it."

Skye sighed. "It was a car, it's not like it was a person. Besides, Fury got him another one."

"But she isn't Lola."

Skye sighed.

"Fine. How about…'Charlie'? It's unisex. And cute. She looks like a 'Charlie'."

Grant watched the dog stare up at him for a moment. "What do you think, girl, you like the name 'Charlie'?" The dog frowned and Grant resisted the urge to smirk. "How about 'Chuck'?" Still a frown. "How about um….'Chloe'?" It was the first name that popped into his mind.

The dog whined and Skye frowned. "Don't give the dog perfectly good names for our children, Grant Douglas."

"So, does that mean 'Mary Sue' is off the table?"

She playfully punched him in the arm and the dog leaned up to lick their faces. Skye scratched her behind the ears before sighing.

"You know, if we can't name a dog, how are we ever supposed to handle children?"

Grant sighed. He remembered a time when he'd refused the idea but she'd won him over with her cuteness. And she was right, if they couldn't handle a dog…

"I don't know, how about…damn, I can't think of anything better than 'Lola'," he resigned. Coulson was going to kill them.

Skye squealed and kissed his cheek before pressing her face into Lola's. "What do you think cutie? Are you a 'Lola'?" Lola barked and wagged her tail. "Lola Fitzsimmons it is!"

Grant rolled his eyes. "I married a child."

"Yes you did, Jason Bourne, deal with it," she smirked as she leaned up to kiss him. Grant moved his hands into her hair and pulled her closer.

"Go run around, kid, mom and dad are busy," he muttered before throwing the ball. Once Lola took off after it he wrapped his arms around Skye and pulled one of her legs over his waist.

She returned the kiss for a very long minute before pulling away with a smile. "Sorry, Agent Ward, but that will have to wait until later."

He whined and held her tighter so she couldn't climb out of his lap. "It's _my_ birthday; for once can't we just skip all of the party nonsense and spend the day lounging around naked. I'd much rather unwrap you than some present."

Skye grinned and shoved him away. "Well, we do have hours before your party, but first I have one more present for you," she teased, pulling him to his feet. He groaned but followed her anyway. Lola circled their feet before yapping and running into the house.

"She seems to feel right at home."

"As she should," Skye reminded him as she led him back up the stairs.

"I like where this is going," he muttered. This surprise had better be sexy. They hadn't had sex in twelve hours, which was way too long. What if they died or something? Skye led him past their bedroom and towards their still unfurnished guest room and he whined. "Skye!"

"Close your eyes."

"No."

"Now."

He groaned and closed them. He heard the door creak open and she took his hand, leading him into the room. When he opened them he expected her to be naked and for there to be a sex swing of some sort or hell, even the bare floor for them to roll around on, he wasn't picky.

"Skye? Can I open them yet?" Skye clutched his hand tightly and took a shaky breath. Now he was nervous. "Skye?"

"Yes," she whispered.

Grant opened his eyes and his jaw dropped. He turned to find Skye watching him nervously. "Surprise?" He slowly spun around to take a good look at what she'd done to the room before standing there for what felt like forever, flabbergasted.

"Huh," he said finally, his brain still trying to process this. "So…wow."

"Are you…say something."

Grant turned his attention back to her. She looked terrified and he supposed his stunned reaction wasn't helping. He closed the gap between them with two stepped and pulled her off her feet and into his arms for a kiss. When he pulled away they both had tears on their cheeks.

"We're having a girl?"

"What gave it away? Was it all the pink?"

He kissed her again with a smile before setting her on her feet. He didn't know when she'd had the time to shop for and set up an entire nursery without him knowing but if anyone could pull this off it was his Skye. "Wow, you're…wait, when did you find out?"

Skye wrapped her arms around his waist before resting her head against his chest. "When you were on that mission in Budapest. You're not mad I didn't tell you sooner, right?"

He kissed the top of her head. "Nah, just happy my curse is to be surrounded by beautiful women…and Fitz."

Skye smirked. "Well, speaking of Fitz, he and Trip will be here in five hours to get you out of the house before your party, that's five hours we have to think of something to do to pass the time…"

Grant scooped her up into his arms and carried her out of the nursery. "Oh, I have plenty of ideas, sweetheart."

And that was the best birthday Grant Ward ever had.


End file.
